Vietnam's Human Rights Abuses

Royce Speaks Out Against Vietnam's Human Rights Abuses
Author of Vietnam Freedom of Information Act Slams Hanoi...
Washington, Oct 1 - At today's Congressional Human Rights Caucus
hearing, U.S. Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA-40) continued to assail the
Vietnamese government for its aggressive silencing of dissent and
restrictions on the free flow of information.

"Vietnam has a long way to go with respect to international standards
of human rights, free speech and freedom of the press. Today, we heard
testimony on how the Vietnamese government continues to jam Radio Free
Asia [RFA] broadcasts and the Internet," said Royce.

Vietnam has recently launched a state crackdown on Internet usage to
oppress free speech. Cyber café owners and Internet service providers
are now required by law to monitor customers' activities and prevent
distribution of unsanctioned material. In August, cyber-journalist
Pham Hong Son had his sentenced reduced from 13 to 5 years. His crime
was writing and distributing online essays advocating political
reform.

"Pham Hong Son joins a growing list of students and dissidents
imprisoned for expressing support for either democracy or free speech
on the Internet. This has sent a clear message to the Internet
generation: freedom of expression will not be tolerated by the
Vietnamese government," said Royce at today's hearing, citing reports
that estimate that the number of people online in Vietnam jumped to
1.3 million in 2002 from only 300,000 in 2001.

"Vietnam's authoritarian regime knows that unrestricted access to news
and information is a threat to their repressive rule - so they work to
block access to the Internet. More and more young people are turning
to the Internet to obtain international and domestic political,
religious, and economic news and information," Royce said.

Royce has long been involved in calling attention to the abysmal human
rights conditions in Vietnam and has worked on several important
pieces of legislation to promote religious freedom and democracy. He
authored the Freedom of Information in Vietnam Act that would boost
RFA's broadcasts to Vietnam and establish a pilot project to combat
Internet jamming and censorship by the Vietnamese government. Royce
also co-authored the Vietnam Human Rights Act that would prohibit
non-humanitarian U.S. aid from being provided to Vietnam unless the
Vietnamese government begins freeing political prisoners and human
rights.

"There is hope for freedom of information in Vietnam. In July, the
House passed legislation that would provide for an additional
transmitter for RFA and create an office of Global Internet Freedom to
combat state-sponsored and state-directed Internet jamming. It is our
hope that the Senate will act - and act soon - and maintain these
critical provisions," concluded Royce.


William L. Cooper
Communications Director

Hon. Edward R. Royce
40th Congressional District
Fullerton, CA
(714) 992-8081

(202) 225-4111